Red, white and blue.

Despite the post title suggesting otherwise I promise that I'm not going to be talking about the Union Jack, but this instead- a boat trip that we took from Newhaven out along the East Sussex coast. Didn't we have the perfect day for it and yes the sea really is turquoise. It's down to all the chalk in the water apparently.

We started out from Newhaven and pottered along the coast passing Seaford, Cuckmere Haven and Birling Gap en route with stops for photos. Below we have the famous seven sisters except ongoing coastal erosion now means that an eighth is being formed. Each has its own name- Haven Brow, Short Brow, Rough Brow, Brass Point, Flagstaff Point, Flat Hill, Baily's Hill and West Hill Brow. Our guide told us that the name of the set of hills was coined by the French sailors because they reminded them of the wavy wimples the French nuns used to wear and there was me thinking that it was just as in brothers and sisters! You really get a sense of how tall they are when you're sitting below them at sea level in a rib.

Many will recognise this famous light house at Beachy Head [there's a similar one at the Needles off the Isle of Wight]. It was built in 1902 to replace the Belle Tout one which is still standing, but frankly was never fit for purpose. It was powered by oil to start with, then electricity and these days it's completely solar.

If you squint you might just about be able to make out a Statue of Liberty. There's a group which carried out extreme beach cleans and a local artist called Planksy creates a work of art in situ with any drift wood that they find.

It was a marvellous way to spend an afternoon and very different to anything we've done before. Originally we were due to be going to Cheltenham for a few days in April, but David's illness meant that we had to cancel. Booking time away at the moment is not straightforward as we often don't know what we're doing very far in advance and plans can change quickly so this was our replacement jolly.

Arilx